GYMNASTICS (Lat. gymnasticus, from Gk. , gymnastikos, relating to athletic exercises, from , gymnazein, to train). Indoor exercises for the development of physique by the aid of suitable appliances. A room or building set apart for such purposes, and furnished with the requisite appliances and paraphernalia, is termed a gymnasium. In the training and development of the athlete, indoor exercises occupy a position of paramount importance; indeed, supremacy in field sports, or outdoor games, is rarely possible unless the progressively systematic exercises of the gymnasium are made a part of the training. The preëminence which classical antiquity gave to systematic training, and which resulted in the physically magnificent specimens of humanity common to the Greek games and Roman gladiatorial combats, became lost to the world with the decay of those nations. Gymnastics as practiced to-day may be said to date from the middle of the nineteenth century, and to be a product or result of modern life and conditions. The increasing number of densely populated cities, the stress of industrial conditions requiring a correspondingly complex and exacting mental or technical preparatory education, as well as a lifetime spent under conditions frequently injurious to good physical health or development, have all contributed to render the practice of gymnastics an absolute necessity to the individual, and a subject of serious importance to the nation at large.
At the beginning of the twentieth century it
is an important feature of the educational system
of every nation in the world, receiving its original
impetus in Europe, but reaching its highest
development thus far in America. Gymnastic
exercises may be divided into three general
classes: (1) Free gymnastics, under which is
included every exercise that is performed without
apparatus; (2) Calisthenics, under which are
included exercises with dumb-bells, Indian clubs, wands, etc.; and (3) Gymnastics proper, by which is meant every exercise in which the body is the resistance moved, and in the execution of which a fixed apparatus is necessary. Indiscriminate gymnastic exercises are rarely beneficial, and frequently injurious, if indulged in by any one
who is not qualified by physical capacity, or who
has not the knowledge or experience necessary
for profitable practice. A physical examination
is always a wise preliminary to a course of work
in the gymnasium, and where possible a system
of exercise should be outlined which will be
within the physical capacity of the student, and
at the same time beneficial to his physical
condition and general health. A physical director
or instructor in gymnastics is now a regular
officer in every well-equipped modern gymnasium; and his presence is the more indispensable when the fact is borne in mind that while some particular muscle or group of muscles may be developed by one form of exercise, another exercise may result in stiffened joints. In a well-arranged system the exercises are such as will gradually develop the athlete from a condition of weakness to one of long endurance, producing powerful muscles and general suppleness of body. Gymnastic exercises, moreover, play an equally important part in the general health of the body by helping the system to throw off its waste material, improving the circulation of the blood, and promoting growth by feeding new material to all parts of the body, thus supplying the entire system with exactly what its needs demand.